


The Price Of Rubies

by kittydesade



Category: Once Upon a Time (2011)
Genre: F/M, Misses Clause Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-26
Updated: 2011-12-26
Packaged: 2017-10-28 03:58:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/303492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittydesade/pseuds/kittydesade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ruby makes a deal with Mr. Gold, which gives them both a little more than they expect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Price Of Rubies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [vocal_bard (atrickstertype)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/atrickstertype/gifts).



The man who called himself Mr. Gold kept the cane in his hand even when he was by himself in his shop. You never knew who might be watching, after all. It made things somewhat difficult, one hand on the cane, the other hand dusting the cabinets and shelves, brushing off the glass, minding the mobile. A number of items in his shop came from children, or childhood fancies, or the nurseries of babes, not that anyone in Storybrooke would know that. No one remembered except one, and she was too busy playing the queen bee to set foot in the shop of a lowly pawnbroker.

He did like that he was left alone to do as he pleased. He disliked being ignored or reviled solely on the basis of the guise he'd chosen. And it really irritated him that the Queen was so damned sloppy about her domination of the town.

But it was almost over, now. He spread his free hand on the glass counter, feeling the cool against his palm and looking down at the tea set that once belonged to a rather fanciful child. No one noticed, as well, that he had so many things that once belonged to children or were intended for use by the parents of children, because obviously a single, somewhat creepy old man could never have a soft spot in his heart for a child. Henry was terrified of him. He meant Henry no ill will. Not beyond the consequences of his own plans, anyway.

He half-hobbled back towards the back room, thoughts elsewhere for the moment. On how all of his power and all of his knowledge couldn't secure the one thing he wanted most in this world. On how, and he was much aware of the fact, his own deals brokered for the first-borns of idiotic, desperate parents were at least halfway caused by his need to hurt others as much as he had been hurt. On how he barely remembered them, after all these years.

That should bother him, he knew. Some days it did. Other days he was too much what he had become, and it didn't.

He heard the door jingle and creak while he was in the back room, poked his head out again. "Just a moment," he called. Someone who wanted something else, no doubt. And couldn't afford to pay.

Ruby sashayed through the doorway and stood in the middle of the aisle just past the mobile and stood with her hips cocked in that irreverent teenager attitude every young person thought looked much more intimidating than it was. He gave her a sliver-moon smile. "What can I do for you?"

She didn't say anything, at first. Licked her lips as though when she opened her mouth she had something she wanted to say, then saw that smile and sucked her words back through her teeth. After another second or two of rocking back and forth on her heels she came out with it. "I need a favor."

"A favor?" His eyebrows arched along with his voice; usually what people wanted from him came in the form of more tangible goods. He was the one usually asking for favors. "What sort of a favor."

"It's more along the lines of you not doing something, actually." Two more steps forward. She wanted to be aggressive, the way she walked with her arms down loose and her steps firm told him that much. But her shoulders bunched up too high and she held her chin up firmly enough that he knew it was artifice. Still scared of him. Of course.

He came out from behind the counter, slowly, with the obvious limp and the cane, and smiled more. "Tell me what I shouldn't be doing, do, please. And I'll tell you what I need from you in return."

She didn't retreat. "Leave Ashley and Emma alone. Stop trying to hound them, bother them, whatever it is you want from them. And you can name your price."

"Can I, now." His eyes flicked up and down her, knowing that she was likely used to that, expecting it. And that it would disconcert her that he showed very little to no interest in her body at all. "And you would pay it."

"Sure." One foot moved, heel-toe, back and forth.

"No matter what it is."

Her eyes narrowed. "Are you trying to scare me off?"

Now he did smile. Not that he had stopped, so much, but some genuine amusement touched the corners of his eyes, wrinkling laugh lines. "I was only asking a question. I'm a businessman, my dear, I need to know these things. I need to know that you're going to honor any agreement we might make."

"All right..." she took a breath, and she didn't look away. "Then we'll lay down some ground rules. No killing anyone. No dying. No pimping me out. Nothing to do with any drugs worse than picking up your prescriptions at the pharmacy. You don't insult me, you don't insult my looks, my clothes, my intelligence, or my friends."

He took a step closer, even more delighted. "That's..."

Her eyes flickered down to his cane, then back up again. "No permanent physical harm. You try and do any of that, the deal is null and void. And I come after you with a bag of hammers till you can't walk on either leg. Deal?"

"There's no need to threaten me, Miss Ruby," he almost laughed; she really was a treasure. "I understand you perfectly. We have an agreement. I will not harass or otherwise coerce anything from Miss Boyd or Miss Swan. I cannot speak to what will happen if they approach me..."

"They won't," Ruby was quick to assert, although he had the feeling judging by the way she had handled him that if they did approach him, she would be just as quick to point out what a bad idea that was. "So." And now a deep breath out. "What do you want?"

He turned away, moving back towards the counter, towards the door to the back room with the small box bed on which he sometimes slept. "I don't know just yet. I'll be sure to give you a call when I do." Her little huff of pique was more than worth turning his back on her.

"I thought..." she started, then stopped. He turned back.

"That I would want some sort of, mm." Another look up and down. "Carnal favors? I'm sorry, Miss Ruby, but I've no need to take a lover against her will."

"Who said it would be against my will?"

There was part artifice and part truth to this, and it softened the edges of his voice, if not his expression. "I've known many young girls like you, Ruby. And you rarely take up with a man of my age and reputation without wanting something from me in return. In this case, the safe passage, as it were, of your friends. It's not very flattering, is it, not to be wanted for yourself but rather for what you can offer someone else."

Ruby blinked. He watched the emotions play over her face, mouth dropping open just a bit, the crease in the center of her forehead. Surprise, confusion. Pity, even, and then curiosity, which he hadn't expected. And she gave him her own up-and-down, only hers lingered, the way he'd seen men look at her. "You're not hideous to look at. You're a sharp cookie..."

He cocked an eyebrow at the mixed metaphor. She blinked again, grimaced, and went on.

"It'd be worth trying at least once. Won't know how much chemistry we have until we try."

"In that case..." although he couldn't quite believe she really meant it. "When would you like to make the date?"

She stepped forward, closed the last bit of distance between them and draped her arms around his neck. In those heels, she was perhaps an inch taller than he was, which no doubt gave her a psychological lift. He didn't mind, himself. It made things easier.

"How about right now?" she murmured, pouring on the sultry much thicker than was needed. But her fingers played through his hair along the back of his head in long, slow strokes, and that really did feel nice.

He extricated himself from her and gestured with a little bow towards the back room. "As my lady wishes," he intoned, and had the satisfaction of seeing her falter at the threshold.

  


  


  


It wasn't over quickly. It took more time than he expected. Neither of them sure of each other, both of them aware of the interchange of power back and forth although he had the benefit of much more experience than she did, their touches were slow and careful until right at the very end. He lay back, eyes closed, fingers trailing along her spine in a motion that had been habit once a very, very long time ago, and wondered what she was thinking. If she regretted it. If she didn't. If she was horrified at herself for not regretting it.

Neither of them said anything for the next hour or so, hour and a bit judging by the chimes of the old clock in the front of the store. Ruby dragged herself up to her feet after that with sluggish movements and much shivering at the cold air, pulling her clothes on as though tired or perhaps reluctant. He didn't look at her closely enough to tell.

She did pull the covers up over his shoulder, a sheet and an old tattered quilt. He kept his eyes closed so he didn't have to make up his mind what expression he had on when he looked at her. She had to know he wasn't asleep, but she didn't say anything either.

Not until she leaned over as if to kiss his cheek goodnight, which really would have been overweening, right until she whispered in his ear.

"I know you're faking."

He froze, not immediately but after she rose up and couldn't feel the tension in his body any longer. Stayed that way, mind churning, until he heard the door close behind her. Then he stretched out on the bed, folded his arms beneath his pillow, and indulged himself in one soft, chuckle and the hope that maybe, for once, someone in this town had done something very interesting.


End file.
